Chapter 272 - 259: Omen Star Shining High
"Fellow Daoist Xuan Heng..."
Deep within the dust and haze, two figures staggered to a halt.
Woodcutter Guest’s face was pale. The backlash from forcefully breaking through the sluggish edge of the Grand Array still ached faintly in his meridians.
Fairy Shuyu’s hair was slightly disheveled, her palace-style robes stained with dust. Her eyes, which usually held a certain dignified grace, were now filled with sorrow and a nearly incandescent hatred.
They looked back toward the depths of the Mist Dust Barrier.
The Spiritual Mechanism there was in chaos, but they could no longer sense Xuan Hengzi’s familiar, gentle, star-like aura.
"Demon! One day, the sects of the Righteous Dao will raze the filthy Demon Caves you infest to the ground! We will claim a blood debt for Fellow Daoist Xuan Heng and the countless other comrades who have fallen!"
Fairy Shuyu bit her lip, her voice trembling with indignation. She clenched her fair hands so tightly that her fingernails dug into her palms.
Woodcutter Guest remained silent. Deep within his eyes, as placid as an ancient well, a sharp Sword Intent churned like a blade being forced back into its sheath—a turbulent undercurrent.
He knew better than Fairy Shuyu just how terrifying that young Demon was.
Taking a deep breath to suppress his surging qi, blood, and emotions, his voice was steady but carried an unprecedented gravity:
"Fairy Shuyu, my condolences.
The most urgent matter now is to regroup with our fellow daoists as quickly as possible.
That young Demon we just faced... his methods were domineering, his understanding of the law profound. He is no ordinary Demon Dao titan. He must be a peerless prodigy, secretly nurtured and hidden away by the Northwest Four Sects until now!
The appearance of such a figure is a massive variable.
We must spread this information as soon as possible to warn everyone, lest more of our comrades... suffer the same fate as Fellow Daoist Xuan Heng."
Hearing this, Fairy Shuyu forcibly reined in her grief and anger, nodding heavily.
Not daring to delay any longer, they each circulated their Cultivation Skills to calm their Inner Breath, preparing to ride their Escape Lights toward locations where they remembered other Righteous Dao Masters might be gathered or have left markers.
And yet, in the very instant they had just mustered their Magical Power, their bodies poised to move—
An indescribable, bone-chilling sense of immense crisis, like a polar vortex, erupted from the very depths of their Dao Foundations without any warning.
It was as if, in the unseen world, a pair of cold, merciless eyes were looking down from the Nine Heavens, locking firmly onto their auras!
"Not good!"
"Be careful!"
Both were Masters who had reached Foundation Establishment after countless tribulations, and their senses for life-and-death crises were exceptionally sharp.
In almost the same instant the alarm bells went off in their minds, they reacted. Forgetting all thoughts of escape, they poured their entire Heart and Spirit and all their Magical Power into defense!
Woodcutter Guest gave a muffled grunt. The Unsheathed Wooden Sword that always hung at his waist shot out of its scabbard by three inches on its own with a SHIIING!
A vast Sword Domain—pure, condensed, capable of severing illusion, acknowledging nothing but the self and the sword—erupted outward from him.
This Sword Domain was formless and intangible, yet within a hundred-zhang radius around him, it seemed to forcibly define an area where only the "Sword Venerable" reigned supreme!
Within this area, all foreign powers not of the pure essence of the "sword" would be naturally repelled and severed.
Behind him, the phantom of a simple, colossal greatsword that seemed to touch the heavens appeared, its Sword Intent soaring—the manifestation of his Dao Foundation’s unique phenomenon!
Fairy Shuyu cried out, spreading her arms. Magical Power surged from her body like a furious tide, and the phantoms of her three Lifebound Spirit Flowers solidified and bloomed with unprecedented clarity!
In an instant, they wove into a great net of soft, white light that covered an area tens of zhang wide, enveloping both herself and Woodcutter Guest’s Sword Domain within it.
Their reactions were undeniably fast, their defenses undeniably tight.
It was the absolute peak of what they could muster in their current state.
But the attack came faster, and it was far more terrifying!
Above the Valley of No Life, the perpetual gray-white fog was suddenly pierced by an unimaginable force!
A magnificent, brilliant, silver-white pillar of starlight, a full hundred meters in diameter and condensed to the point of being almost solid, descended straight down from the breach in the Celestial Vault, carrying with it a terrifying might that could crush the void and annihilate the Ten Thousand Laws, steeped in a grim Dao Rhyme!
Its target was none other than Woodcutter Guest and Fairy Shuyu, who had just raised their strongest defenses!
BOOM—!!!
Sound itself was utterly devoured and annihilated in the ultimate collision of light and heat, power and Dao.
The silver Star Pillar collided first with Woodcutter Guest’s "Heart Sword" Sword Domain!
The "Sword Venerable" domain, faced with this Star Pillar that seemed to carry the weight of an entire star-filled sky, emitted the K-CRACK of something breaking under an unbearable load.
The phantom of the simple greatsword behind Woodcutter Guest trembled violently, and countless fine cracks appeared on its blade.
His face instantly turned ashen. Blood seeped from all seven of his orifices, but he still gritted his teeth, pouring his entire Heart and Spirit and Sword Intent into the Sword Domain, holding on for dear life.
He was trying to use the "purity" of his own Sword Dao to "sever" the "vastness" of the stars!
Immediately after, the Star Pillar, its momentum undiminished, crushed the cracking Sword Domain and slammed viciously into the triple-layered defense laid down by Fairy Shuyu.
However, the power of this Star Pillar was simply too immense and concentrated.
The Celestial Net held for less than a single breath before the Spirit Silks at the center, bearing the brunt of the impact, began to snap with a crisp, sharp sound, like suddenly severed zither strings.
At the breaking points, Star Power spread like corrosive lava, rapidly disintegrating the Celestial Net’s structure.
PTUI!
As if struck by a heavy hammer, Fairy Shuyu’s delicate mouth opened, and she spat out a mouthful of pale golden blood tinged with ice crystals and the scent of flowers. Her aura instantly withered, and her figure swayed on the verge of collapse.
She desperately tried to maintain the Celestial Net, her Finger Technique a blur as she attempted to repair the damage, but it was like trying to put out a forest fire with a cup of water.
Woodcutter Guest’s Sword Domain finally shattered completely under the continuous pressure of the Star Pillar.
He was flung backward like a kite with a snapped string. The Wooden Sword in his hand let out a mournful cry, its Spiritual Light completely extinguished.
But even then, at the last moment, he forced himself to slash out with a single, condensed beam of Sword Qi.
It wasn’t aimed at the Star Pillar, but at the edge of the Celestial Net before Fairy Shuyu, which was on the verge of complete collapse.
He had to sever the final connection between the Celestial Net and Fairy Shuyu, to prevent the Star Power from traveling along it and completely corroding her Dao Foundation!
The Sword Qi flashed past, and several key Spirit Silks at the edge of the Celestial Net snapped.
Almost simultaneously, the hundred-meter Star Pillar—weakened, but still lethal—finally broke through all obstructions.
A highly condensed beam of starlight at its core, like a drill bit, slammed viciously into the ground right between where the two had been standing!
RUMBLE—!!!
This time, the sound was earth-shattering!
The ground buckled as if struck head-on by a meteor. A terrifying shockwave formed visible, silver-white rings of air that swept out in all directions with world-destroying force.
Wherever it passed, rock walls collapsed, and dust was vitrified into glass.
The luminous dust slowly settled.
At the edge of a massive crater, Woodcutter Guest knelt on one knee.
He used the Wooden Sword, its spiritual nature greatly damaged, to barely support his body.
His Daoist Robe was in tatters, his body bathed in blood, and his aura was faint to the extreme. Yet his gaze remained sharp, fixed on the spot where the Star Pillar had struck.
Farther away, Fairy Shuyu lay amidst shattered crystal clusters, her palace robes scorched and torn. Her breathing was faint, and she was unconscious.
Only a few Broken flower petals scattered around her still emitted a weak Spiritual Light.
The terrifying Star Pillar that had pierced Heaven and Earth had vanished.
...
「One hour earlier.」
Qi Yun sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, his aura calm and condensed.
A moment later, he slowly opened his eyes, and a Star River seemed to flow within his pupils.
He raised a hand before his chest, his five fingers pinching and shifting with an ancient rhythm. At his fingertips, a dark silver Flowing Light swirled like Star Dust.
Finally, they formed a strange Dharma Seal shaped like an inverted constellation, containing within it the true meaning of annihilation.
"Condense."
He breathed out the single True Word.
In an instant, the boundless [Daluo Heaven] Magical Power within Qi Yun’s body surged forth.
VMM...
An extremely faint tremor sounded.
Before his fingertips, a single point of "starlight" appeared out of thin air—extremely condensed and as dark as the deepest midnight.
This core was only the size of a bean, yet it was as heavy as a newly formed mountain, exuding a cold, desolate, and ferocious aura.
Within a few breaths, this starlight had grown to the size of a fist.
Qi Yun’s gaze was as calm as still water; he paid it no mind.
An ordinary Master from the Celestial Star Sect would have to carefully maintain the balance of Star Power, burdened by the fear of their Magical Power running dry.
But his Magical Power was as vast as the ocean. For him, this was less than a drop in the bucket.
"Go."
He commanded softly.
The starlight responded, transforming into a dim star-gleam whose trajectory was impossible to follow with the naked eye. In an instant, it vanished into the gray, deathly-still "Celestial Vault" concept above the Valley of No Life.
[Celestial Star Sect Secret Skill—Omen Star Shining High!]
The wonder of this skill lay in condensing an [Evil Star] completely under the caster’s control, entrusting it to the Celestial Vault above.
Using this star as an eye to look down and lock onto enemies; using it as a pivot to rain down calamitous punishment.
Its drawback was that the caster bore the full cost of its power; it could not connect to the true stars of the cosmic Circulation to borrow their strength.
For Celestial Star Sect Cultivators, who were accustomed to commanding the constellations, it was like using one’s own weakness to attack an enemy’s strength—a thankless and difficult effort. Thus, it was mostly considered an unorthodox technique.
But now, in Qi Yun’s hands, this "useless" Secret Skill was displaying a completely different kind of power.
High above the Valley of No Life, deep within the gray fog, a Dark Silver Eye—formless and intangible, yet real—silently opened.
It instantly captured the residual auras of Woodcutter Guest and the other, its cold gaze fixed on the two figures at the edge of the Mist Dust Barrier below, who had just steadied themselves, their grief and anger still fresh.
Below, Qi Yun’s Heart Thought connected with the [Evil Star].
He could clearly "see" the light of Woodcutter Guest’s Heart Sword trying to sever illusion, and he could "sense" the terror and hatred beneath Fairy Shuyu’s complex flower barrier.
’I shall test the edge of this star on you both.’
His Heart Thought stirred, and he hesitated no longer.
The bottomless [Daluo Heaven] Magical Power within him, like a celestial river bursting its dams, surged out!
Above the Valley of No Life, the [Evil Star]’s brilliance suddenly turned inward, compressing to the absolute limit.
A starlight so powerful it made the land tremble for a hundred li around began to condense frantically!
The next instant—
A Star Pillar a hundred meters in diameter, condensed and purified to the extreme, pierced through the gray fog and the heavenly light, descending with a roar upon the two tiny figures below!
Where the starlight passed, it tore a silver "scar" in the void that would not heal, within which flickered terrifying phantoms of stars being born and dying, of tribulations flowing past.
On the ground, Qi Yun slowly retracted his hand seal, his expression unchanged. The Magic Technique Panel slowly materialized before him, displaying lines of text from a few moments ago.
[Omen Star Shining High 2.0: Increased Magic power, increased Magic range]
[Omen Star Shining High 3.0: Increased Magic power, increased Magic range]
[Omen Star Shining High 4.0: Increased Magic power, increased Magic range]
[Omen Star Shining High 5.0: Increased Magic power, increased Magic range]
[Omen Star Shining High 6.0: Increased Magic power, increased Magic range]
[Omen Star Shining High 7.0: Increased Magic power, increased Magic range]
[Omen Star Shining High 8.0: Increased Magic power, increased Magic range]
[Omen Star Shining High 9.0: Increased Magic power, increased Magic range]
...